Attaching importance to field security, economy, MHA Shah calls for togetherness at SCO, deal with disasters

New Delhi, November 08: Dealing with the prevention and elimination of emergency situations, MHA Amit Shah on Friday addressed the 10th meeting of the heads of departments of SCO member states in New Delhi.

 

"India attaches special importance to SCO as an excellent platform for synergizing the efforts of all member States in the field of multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interaction in the region and developing personal understanding amongst counterpart teams when they work together to tackle any disaster situation", he said.

 

 

Stressing on the fact that India attaches special importance to SCO as a platform for regional outreach, Shah also informed that India had participated in more than 20 ministerial meetings in the last 2 years. "India has always been the first respondent in situations of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management in Indian subcontinent region", he said.

 

He also stressed on the need for all stakeholders to focus on building disaster resilient infrastructure to minimize the loss of precious lives and property. Taking initiative in this direction, in September 2019, PM Modi had launched the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 in New York.

 

Expressing pride in organizing an SCO Ministerial Meeting for the first time in India, the further expressed hope that this meeting would bring together all SCO Nations to deliberate on an effective strategy to build disaster resilient infrastructure and bolster each others’ capabilities to efficiently tackle future disasters by exchanging best practices. "This forum would become an important platform to increase mutual cooperation among SCO Nations in disaster management", he added.